Bike Mike’s Best St. Louis Team Sim Tournament

[Brian Walton]

In a new, free series at The Cardinal Nation, Michael Roberts uses a popular simulation game to identify the best #STLCards team of all time. First, we set up the eight participants in the first round "Losers Bracket". https://t.co/ubxR06U5dy pic.twitter.com/8NRdaejNv8

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) November 25, 2025

[Brian Walton]

In our simulation game tournament to identify the best St. Louis baseball team of all time, eight exceptional, but non-World Series winning clubs face off, with four advancing to the 16-team playoff. https://t.co/DkTSP36EI8 pic.twitter.com/V4C02PIfKZ

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 2, 2025

[bicyclemike]

Hey TCNers – I am sharing my “Best of St. Louis” computer sim tournament on the site, with an article every couple of weeks or so talking about the teams and the games.

Thought I would see if anyone wants to throw out predictions of how the tournament will play out. It is a bracket style with 16 teams competing. 20 teams were included to start, with the eight World Series losing ball clubs placed into a “loser’s bracket”, where they played best-of-seven games series to earn a spot in the final field of 16. Those games have already been shared in the second feature on the TCN site.

All series are best-of-seven, and no re-seeding in later rounds. Make your bracket prediction and I will award 1 point for each round one team correctly chosen, 2 points for each second round winner, 3 points for the semi-final winners, and 5 points for picking the tournament champion. Most total points wins.

Similar to Pugs’ prize for picking the 2025 MLB playoff champ, I will send a group of baseball cards of Cardinals to the winner – some newer and some vintage – maybe 5 or 6 cards in total. If two members tie, I will send cards to each winner. For three or more, I should probably put in a tie-breaker. We will use total runs scored in the championship series as the tie breaker.

Here are the match-ups, with real-life winning percentage and run differential. Post your picks here and a number for total runs scored in the championship series. Good luck!

#1 1942 Cardinals (.688, 275) vs #16 2006 Cardinals (.516, 19)
#8 1967 Cardinals (.627, 138) vs # 9 1934 Cardinals (.621, 143)
#4 1946 Cardinals (.628, 167) vs #13 1964 Cardinals (.574, 63)
#5 1943 Cardinals (.682, 204) vs #12 2013 Cardinals (.599, 187)
#6 1922 Browns (.604, 223) vs #11 1985 Cardinals (.623, 175)
#3 1931 Cardinals (.656, 201) vs #14 1982 Cardinals (.568, 76)
#7 2004 Cardinals (.648, 196) vs #10 1926 Cardinals (.578, 139)
#2 1944 Cardinals (.682, 282) vs #15 2011 Cardinals (.556, 80)

[Brian Walton]

Why isn’t anyone entering Bike Mike’s contest? Free cards to the winner!

Setting up the 16 teams to face off in the final rounds of our Best of St. Louis sim tournament, this article focuses on the 11 World Champion #STLCards teams. https://t.co/W9foojEuA7 pic.twitter.com/kxOfjeRRDK

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 16, 2025

[stlcard25]

I didn’t notice the chance to predict, but I do love a good prediction. I will be moving in the middle of this winter, so I probably won’t be collecting any Cards even if I do win. But I’ll bite:

First round:

42 Cards over 06 Cards in 4
67 Cards over 34 Cards in 5
46 Cards over 64 Cards in 5
13 Cards over 34 Cards in 7
85 Cards over 22 Browns in 6
31 Cards over 82 Cards in 6
04 Cards over 26 Cards in 5
44 Cards over 11 Cards in 5

Quarters

42 Cards over 67 Cards in 6
46 Cards over 13 Cards in 7
31 Cards over 85 Cards in 5
44 Cards over 04 Cards in 6

Semis

42 Cards over 46 Cards in 5
44 Cards over 31 Cards in 4

Finals

42 Cards over 44 Cards in 7 (Enos and Stan over just Stan, even if Stan was all world that year)

[osuagec]

First round I will pick seeds 1 through 8 to win.

Round 2 I will go with seeds 1-4.

Round 3 I will take seeds 1 & 2.

Finals will see the 1 seed win it all.

This is pretty much how I predict the NCAA tournament as well. Also why I never win.

[ZTR]

The best simulation game I have seen is the old Pursue the Pennant – now Diamond Mind Baseball.

It is great for playing cross era games because it normalizes the player stats against the league average for the year the player played.

It even does it for fielding / errors.

A .300 hitter in 1930 was average while a .300 hitter in other seasons would be among the best.

[bicyclemike]

Alright, thanks gents. Your picks are recorded. Osuagec going with no upsets. Stlcard25 with a few lower seeds picked. BTW – a perfect score is 27 (8×1 + 4×2 + 2×3 + 5)

A .300 hitter in 1930 was average while a .300 hitter in other seasons would be among the best.

Action PC does a similar thing. A .300 hitter in 1930 would be something line a .240 hitter in 1968. Likewise a pitcher with a 4.25 ERA in 1930 would be more like 2.50 ERA in ’68.

For this tournament I am using a setting in the game that uses historical statistical averages to determine the results. Thus if I played the ’30 Cardinals verses the ’68 Cardinals, the results would be based on an average of each league norm.

[bicyclemike]

Happy Holidays, everyone! Only a few days to get your bracket in before we start to share the results of the Best of St. Louis tourney.

While the next few years don’t look to be some of the “best of St. Louis” baseball, although you never know, feel free to take a step back and relive the glory times.

Thinking about it, quite a few of our great teams were not thought to be all that good heading in to the season. 1967 we were picked 6th in pre-season forecasts. 1985 we were picked to finish last in the division, with Whitey thought to be the first manager fired.

But then there was 1969 – we were considered to be the class of the league, and of all teams the Mets, who had never finished higher than 9th in their 7 year history, won 100 games and beat the mighty Orioles in the World Series!

Just shows, anything can happen.

[Brian Walton]

Sixteen of the Best Teams in St. Louis baseball history face off in a sim tournament, with a host of thrills, spills and a few surprises. #stlcards #stlbrowns https://t.co/pSAp1JfILz pic.twitter.com/ijIr60ux7j

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 27, 2025

[gscottar]

First Round:

1942 Cards over 2006 Cards
1967 Cards over 1934 Cards
1946 Cards over 1964 Cards
1943 Cards over 2013 Cards
1985 Cards over 1922 Browns
1982 Cards over 1931 Cards
2004 Cards over 1926 Cards
1944 Cards over 2011 Cards

Quarterfinals:

1967 Cards over 1942 Cards
1946 Cards over 1943 Cards
1985 Cards over 1982 Cards
2004 Cards over 1944 Cards

Semi Finals:

1967 Cards over 1946 Cards
1985 Cards over 2004 Cards

Finals:

1985 Cards over 1967 Cards in 7 games
Total Runs: 50

My results are probably skewed by recency bias but I have always told people that I thought the 1985 Cards was the best Cardinal team I have seen so I am going to stick to my guns.

Edit: I can honestly say that I posted my picks before reading Brian’s article above. Sorry for the late entry.

[bicyclemike]

Thanks gscottar – got you down. Only three contestants so you have a good chance of winning some “cards of Cards”. 🙂

Yeah, that ’85 team was one of the more enjoyable teams in many of our lifetimes. I made a road trip to Chicago and St. Louis that summer and saw us win the last two of a three game series sweep in Chicago, then to St. Louis where we played the Phillies and Cubs again, and won 5 of 6. It was just as we were gaining momentum.

[bicyclemike]

Looking at our Sweet Sixteen round, our contestant’s scores are:

stlcard25 – 3
osuagec – 5
gscottar -5

The #13 1964’s upset 7 game series win over the 4-seeded 1946 club really tripped up everyone. The ’46ers pummeled our latter-day Birds in the series outscoring the ’64s 35-24 over the 7 games, but the ’64s managed to win the closer contests and took the series ala 1960 World Series play.

None of our three contestants picked the #9 Gas House Gang (1934) to knock out #8 1967. Gscottar picked the 1982 team over the #3 1931 squad, which was a nice upset choice. Osuagec was the only one to get the 1922 Browns opening series win, to get a point there.

Next feature will be our “Great Eight” round, that will play out this way:

#1 1942 Cardinals vs #9 1934 Cardinals
Will Me & Paul turn Stan & Enos dizzy?

#5 1943 Cardinals vs #13 1964 Cardinals
Another ‘64 upset bid, or will the ‘43s prevail for Billy the Kid?

#6 1922 Browns vs #14 1982 Cardinals
Brownie brown or Redbird red, who will go for the crown and who will be dead?

#2 1944 Cardinals vs #7 2004 Cardinals
Southworth & LaRussa go for a shot at the big Palooza.

[bicyclemike]

Alright, I have selected the baseball cards that will go to our contest winner.

Here is the list, with photo below:

1962 Topps Ken Boyer #370
1972 Topps Bob Gibson #130
1974 Topps Red Schoendienst manager card #236
1987 Topps Whitey Herzog manager card #243
1988 Fleer Ozzie Smith #47
2018 Topps Bowman Chrome Adolis Garcia rookie #121
2020 Topps Randy Arozarena rookie #229
1947 (or 1949) Bond Bread Stan Musial*

*This card is much discussed in the hobby as there was an original issue 24 card set placed in wrappers of Bond Bread, and there were other versions of these cards that came out a couple years later. Also there was supposedly a “warehouse find” of these in the 1980s. It is hard to say exactly what this card is. I picked up a few of them several years ago for about $10 each, and see them on ebay for anywhere from $75 to a couple hundred bucks. So you may get a somewhat valuable card, or maybe not. For what it’s worth I sold one on ebay maybe a year ago for around $26.

[Brian Walton]

More surprises and thrilling moments are in store in the quarterfinal round of the “Best of St. Louis” tournament using simulation to select the top St. Louis baseball team of all time. #stlcards #browns https://t.co/hKoQGAYeEA pic.twitter.com/yvMmNI45el

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) January 4, 2026

[bicyclemike]

With the quarter-finals in the books our revised contest numbers look like this:

stlcard25 – 3
osuagec – 5
gscottar -7

And none of our three contestants picked any of the final four teams, so this is how the prognosticators will end. Congrats to gscottar for winning the “Best of St. Louis” bracket pool!!

The 1934 Gas House Gang’s upset of the top-seeded 1942 team in the quarter-finals really busted the brackets. When you get a chance, check up my write-up on that series. It was something else, particularly game seven.

Here is how the Final Four shapes up:

#5 1943 Cardinals versus #9 1934 Cardinals
#6 1922 Browns versus #7 2004 Cardinals

The write-up on those games, as well as the Finals will be coming in another week or so. Meanwhile gscottar, fire off a note to me at bikemike09@yahoo.com and let me know where to send the cards. And congratulations again the win. Also stlcard25 and ousagec, thanks for participating.

[gscottar]

Thanks for doing this contest mike. I feel lucky to have won.

[bicyclemike]

Sure thing, gscottar. Sorry the ’85 team did not go farther in the tourney. They looked to be making a quick exit, falling down 3-0 in games to the 1922 Browns, but battled back to win games 4 and 5 before succumbing in game 6.

Still as you mentioned, one of the best Cardinal teams in most of our lifetimes, and an exciting team to watch. The homers by Ozzie (“Go crazy folks”) and Clark in games 5 and 6 of the NLCS are a couple of the more memorable events in Cardinal post season history.

[stlcard25]

I picked against the ’04 Cards because I feel like these sort of simulations tend to overrate the classic teams and players, sort of like an overcorrection to avoid the reality that players are bigger, stronger and faster now. In reality, if you transported every guy from the year they were to exactly now (without having a lifetime to train and prepare for it) and they all had to play, modern teams would run roughshod over all the best old time teams.

Anyway, I feel that the ’04 team is the best Cardinals team I’ve personally witnessed in my lifetime. I was recently watching a replay of the ’04 NLCS Game 7. That lineup 1-7 of Renteria-Walker-Pujols-Rolen-Edmonds-Sanders-Womack could really hit. You had the weak spot of Matheny, but the upside of his good glove (Yadi was just coming on then). Boy were we spoiled with 4 HOFers (Edmonds was robbed) and three other plus hitters clubbing it around. The rotation was solid with Carpenter, Morris, Suppan, Marquis and company and the bullpen was good too. I hope we some day get to see another Cardinal team in that echelon again. That would really be something.

[bicyclemike]

That 2004 team was truly great stlcard25 – the best Cardinal team of the modern era. I probably downgraded their seeding a little too much based on their poor World Series showing. Stayed tuned to this channel to see how they fared among the final four.

As for different eras, you are correct in that if you took players from their time and dropped them in to today’s world they would not be as good as the current players. That is true in anything. I first got out of college in the mid-’70s, and got my first apartment and full-time job living on my own in 1975. I think back and had you pulled the “me” from then and dropped me into 2025 and put me in my career, I would have gotten trampled. Smart phones, personal computers, everything done on computer programs – the kids would have ran all over me.

But life does not work that way. We live in a time-space continuum. We adapt to the changes that surround us. It is the same way with baseball. Great players from yesteryear would be great players today because they would adapt. The arc of change is slow, but there are times when it moved relatively quick. The industrial age of the late 1800s and early 1900s was one such time, likewise the 1940s and post World War II era.

People’s athletic primes are fairly short, 15-20 years at most. But we have examples of players that crossed eras and maintained their greatness. Stan Musial and Ted Williams, generational talents for sure, started out in the late ’30s and early ’40s, and were great. And yet 20 years later, during a time when the big leagues were especially rich with talent as opportunities arose for people who were formerly denied access, yet still only 16 teams were in existence, Musial and Williams had adapted and were still putting up impressive numbers. Stan was still a 3 WAR player as late as 1962 at age 41. Williams put up an amazing 9+ WAR in 1957, and finished his career with 3 WAR in only 113 games in 1960.

Thus the only true way to determine greatness is to measure people, and teams in the context of sports, to their peers. A couple of guys in particular that I think would be great players had they come along 100 years later are Walter Johnson and Honus Wagner. Johnson would be a dominating pitcher throwing 100 MPH and consistently leading the league in strikeouts. Wagner would be a relatively big shortstop, like 6’4″ 225 maybe, with some 30/30 seasons (homers and stolen bases) and a couple of MVPs.

Anyway, good stuff. For context here is a snippet from the game I used for this tournament about era’s:

Era Impact—Batters and pitcher statistics are modified by comparing their real life era with
the era in which the game is being played. For example, a batter who hit 50 home runs in
a season where the league average was 32 home runs/1000AB would only be expected to
hit 25 home runs in an era where the league average was 16 home runs/1000AB.

[Brian Walton]

Follow the key plays and game-by-game results in the upset-heavy semi-final round of the “Best of St. Louis” tournament using simulation to select the top St. Louis baseball team of all time. #stlcards #stlbrowns https://t.co/wKj9gcBnaj pic.twitter.com/LXEeU5pOoL

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) January 24, 2026

[bicyclemike]

Lots of great moments in the semi-final round. Please check out the write up. For those who prefer the condensed version, here were the series:

#5 1943 Cardinals over the #9 1934 Cardinals 4 games to 3.

The Gas House Gang made a run to within a game of getting to the finals. After a memorable drive they finally succumbed to a higher rated club, but were the “Cinderella” team of the tourney. Dizzy Dean was spectacular.

#7 2004 Cardinals over the #6 1922 Browns 4 games to 3.

Another seven game series with the ‘04 club getting the win after leading 3 games to 1, then the Brownies coming back to win games 5 and 6 and force a winner-take-all game.

Our tourney comes down to an inter-generational battle between the 1943 club lead by Musial, Marion and the Coopers against the “MV3” squad from 2004.

[Brian Walton]

Follow the key plays and game-by-game results in the Championship Series of the “Best of St. Louis” tournament. Simulation was used to select the top St. Louis baseball team of all time, the 2004 #STLCards. https://t.co/TFtNxxIRq1 pic.twitter.com/pMIUP4S14k

— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) January 25, 2026

[bicyclemike]

The 2004 team earned the trophy in a thrilling seven game series win over the 1943 club. The seventh game was a 5-4 squeaker win for the ’04s. The game ended in dramatic fashion – two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Stan the Man at bat, and a runner on against Jason Isringhausen. It was a “Golden Pitch” scenario, where the game could have gone either way. Izzy prevailed, getting Stan to ground out.

Check out the article to see the highlights and the all-tournament team, along with the tourney MVP.

[stlcard25]

I meant to comment on this before. I’m pleased to see the 2004 team come out on top. I did not expect that the computers would come up with that result, as simulations seem to favor the old school teams. At any rate, those early 2000s Cardinals were some impressive teams that ran into some juggernauts (Dbacks, Astros) and some teams of destiny (Red Sox, Mets) but generally held their own against all comers. I was pleased that they got their ring in 2006, finally.

They also had a bit of “what could have been” going on with the tragic passing of Darryl Kile and Rick Ankiel’s woes. I had sort of forgotten the time frame but they traded JD Drew, who put up 8.3 WAR in ’04, for Waino, Marquis and Ray “Burger” King the off-season before or that 2004 juggernaut could have been even more dominant.

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